WHAT IS ACUTE MALNUTRITION?
Acute malnutrition is a devastating disease
of epidemic proportions. Worldwide, some 55
million children age 5 or younger suffer from
acute malnutrition, 19 million of whom are
afflicted with severe acute malnutrition—the
most dangerous type of hunger.1 Each year,
some 5 million of these children die because
they lack access to treatment.2 These deaths are
entirely preventable.

DIAGNOSING MALNUTRITION

Childhood acute malnutrition is as much a medical
problem as it is a social problem because it
directly affects a broad range of issues: a country’s
mortality rates, educational prospects, productive
employment, and economic capacity, etc.
Malnutrition also happens to be one of the principal
mechanisms behind the transmission of poverty
and inequality from one generation to the next.
These devastating consequences also carry a heavy
economic cost: it is estimated that productivity losses
alone exceed 10% of a person’s lifetime income, and
up to 3% of a country’s GDP.

PRESENCE OF BILATERAL EDEMAS
An abnormal accumulation of liquid in one’s
extremities.

Acute malnutrition in children under five years
of age increases their risk of death, inhibits their
physiological and mental development, has life-long
implications for their health, and heavily mortgages
the opportunities available to future generations.

MIDDLE UPPER ARM CIRCUMFERENCE
An anthropometric measure frequently used
during emergencies is the measurement of
a child’s upper arm—the MUAC, or Middle
Upper Arm Circumference. Anything less than
12.0 centimeters indicates a child’s life is in
danger from acute malnutrition.

1

The Lancet: Maternal and Child Undernutrition Series paper 1
January 2008

TYPES OF ACUTE MALNUTRITION
Acute malnutrition takes place when the body
doesn’t receive the nutritional support it requires,
a condition to which it adapts by reducing physical
activity and slowing the processes involved
in proper organ function and cell and tissue
maintenance. Regular nourishment enables
human beings to secure the energy their bodies
require for the proper functioning of their vital
organs. Malnutrition occurs when the body
has spent its energy reserves. The body begins
to consume its own tissues in search of the
nutrients and energy it needs to survive, targeting
muscle and body fat first. The body’s metabolism
begins to slow, thermal regulation is disrupted,
kidney function is impaired, and immune system
capacity is diminished. The greater the loss
of muscle and other tissue, the less likely the
chances of survival. What happens next?
Moderate Acute: Moderate acute malnutrition
affects a greater number of children and has a
greater impact on morbidity. It is accompanied
by crucial deficiencies such as anemia (from a
lack of iron), goiter (from a lack of iodine), and
xerophthalmia (from a lack of vitamin A), as
well as scurvy, pellagra, beriberi (from a lack of
vitamin B), and rickets (from a lack of vitamin D).

Severe Acute: The most severe form that
malnutrition can take, severe acute malnutrition
can manifest in two ways:
• Marasmus: Marasmus is characterized by a massive
loss of weight and muscle tissue. Due to the
disequilibrium experienced in weight and height,
children suffering from Marasmus look almost
elderly and their bodies are skeletal. At this point,
their bodies’ vital processes are compromised:
their metabolism has slowed, thermal regulation is
disrupted, intestinal absorption and kidney function
are diminished, the liver’s capacity to synthesize
proteins and eliminate toxins is reduced, and the
immunological system doesn’t function properly,
which means less resistance to illness and disease.
At this stage, even if the child manages to survive its
bout with Marasmus, the damage is done and the
deficiencies sustained from the disease can never be
overcome.
• Kwashiorkor: The term “kwashiorkor” comes from a Ghanian
word that means “the sickness the older child gets when
the new child is born.” Its principal characteristic is the
presence of bilateral edemas on the extremities and on
the face (a full-faced child). Underneath these edemas,
the muscles have been severely weakened, causing
excruciating cramping and muscle pain. As is the case
with Marasmus, children with Kwashiorkor suffer from
significant damage to the functioning of their internal
systems.

WHAT CAUSES ACUTE MALNUTRITION?
STRUCTURAL FACTORS
TRADE POLICY The major food crises that have
recently buffeted Sub-Saharan Africa stem
from a lack of access to food, not a lack of
availability (i.e., the markets are full, but prices
are too high and the poor don’t eat). Prices have
remained high because much of what is produced
domestically is exported while the economic
powers that control the cereal markets have
colluded to keep prices high.

POVERTY During the last two decades, extreme
poverty in Sub-Saharan African has nearly
doubled, from 164 million in 1981 to some
313 million as of 2002. Poverty alone does not
explain the presence of famine, although it does
affect the state of food security among the most
vulnerable of populations.
GENDER The benefits stemming from the
education of women constitutes the single
greatest contribution to the reduction of
malnutrition from 1970 through 1995, accounting
for 43% of all progress made. Women, after
children, are the most susceptible to the ravages
of hunger.

HIV & AIDS HIV and AIDS have become one of
the primary causes—and consequences—of
malnutrition. An HIV positive child has a
greater chance of contracting malnutrition than
his healthier counterparts. Moreover, antiretroviral treatments do not perform as well on
malnourished children, and life expectancy is
considerably shorter for patients who lack proper
diets.

CLIMATE CHANGE During the 1990s, it is
estimated that natural disasters were responsible
for $600 million dollars in losses each year, more
than twice the losses reported during the 1980s.
According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), in nearly 40 developing
countries, the losses in agricultural production
attributed to climate change could dramatically
increase the estimated number of people
suffering from hunger in the near future.

1

2

3

ER P
YRA
M

ID

TRIGGER FACTORS

THE

HUN
G

VIOLENCE Violence is one of the principal causes
of acute malnutrition. The disruption of food
production and distribution networks, whether a
deliberate military objective or the consequence
of armed conflict, violence is one of the primary
causes of severe food shortages, and therefore of
acute malnutrition.
FAILING STATES Somalia is one of the more enduring
and costly examples of the types of crises that can
be triggered by the failing of state structures. The
faltering of state structures, the absence of basic
services, the complete breakdown of public health
infrastructure and sanitation systems, have all
imposed tremendous suffering on a population with
one of the highest rates of chronic malnutrition in
the world.

ACUTE
MALNUTRITION

TRIGGER FACTORS
Violence
Failing States
Natural Disasters

NATURAL DISASTERS When natural disasters affect
geographic areas with poor structural stability, their
impacts can be devastating, often with little relation
to the actual magnitude of the natural phenomenon.
Less visible forms of destructionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;of productive
assets and capacityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;often constrain vital supply
networks with far more serious consequences than
the direct impact of a natural disaster on physical
infrastructure.

How is Acute Malnutrition Addressed?
With 30 years of international experience, Action
Against Hunger tackles acute malnutrition
through Community-Based Care outpatient
programs (“home treatment”), through
Stabilization Centers (“hospitals”), and through
the development of new Ready-To-Use-Foods
(RUFs)—both therapeutic and non-therapeutic
nutrition products that children can readily eat
any time or place.
Until fairly recently, children receiving treatment
for acute malnutrition would recuperate in
intensive-care inpatient facilities called “Therapeutic
Feeding Centers,” hospital-like centers where
they would remain with a parent or caretaker
during their month-long treatment. The shift
toward “Community-Based Care” programs, led
by Action Against Hunger and other international
organizations, allows us to dramatically scale up
coverage, and implies a revolutionary change in the
fight against malnutrition.
The Advantages of Ready-To-Use-Foods (RUFs):

• RUFs allow for a massive scaling-up of treatment and
prevention programs.
• RUFs allow for increased coverage and broader
access to treatment.
• RUFs reduce the social costs associated with
inpatient treatment, allowing parents to treat a
child at home without leaving the family or forgoing
income during treatment.

READY-TO-USE-FOODS
A range of revolutionary Ready-To-Use-Foods
(RUFs) have been developed in the form of peanutbutter pastes and biscuits that are nutrient-rich and
packed with high concentrations of energy and
calories. These nutrition products reduce exposure
to water-borne bacteria because they contain no
water content and require no dilution, reducing the
risk of exposure to unclean water. RUFs require no
refrigeration, and no heating or preparation, all of
which ensure that vitamins and nutrients aren’t lost
by the time they are consumed—not to mention the
fuel savings for poorer households.
These products are transforming the treatment
and prevention of acute malnutrition: their
potential for scaled up humanitarian action, for
safe treatment at home, and their effectiveness
in the field—a minimum cure rate of 80%—could
spell the end of acute malnutrition as we know it.

THERAPEUTIC OUTPATIENT CARE
“HOME TREATMENT”

PHASE

rapeutic milk
he child’s
s and solid
ced.

PHASE 2

Administration of therapeutic RUFs
along with doses of antibiotics,
vitamin A, anti-parasite and antimalaria medicines, and measles
vaccinations.

The treatment of acute malnutrition consists of 3
components:
COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION: “HOME VISITORS”
To achieve maximum program coverage,
resources must be focused on mobilizing a large
number of community volunteers who work
directly with Action Against Hunger’s field teams
of home visitors. These teams are responsible for
identifying early cases of childhood malnutrition
so that timely interventions can keep them from
deteriorating further.
THERAPEUTIC INPATIENT CARE:
“HOSPITAL TREATMENT”
PHASE ONE + TRANSITION PHASE
Children with no appetite and serious medical
complications are admitted into specialized
treatment centers, or hospitals. These children
represent about 10-20% of severe acute cases.
Once under hospital supervision, these children
undergo two phases of treatment. Phase One
involves the administration of a specialized milk
formula, F-75, a therapeutic nutritional product
with a low calorie load designed to jumpstart
a child’s metabolism and restore hydroelectric
equilibrium. This phase is followed by a Transition
Phase in which another milk formula (F-100)
is administered until the child’s metabolism
stabilizes and solid foods can be introduced.

POST TREATMENT

Children treated for acute
malnutrition are enrolled in
supplementary nutrition programs
for an additional four months to
ensure total recovery.

Once they have recovered their appetites
and received treatment for their medical
complications these children are referred to
the outpatient programs (“home treatment”) to
continue their regimen, beginning Phase Two.
The average stay in a hospital setting varies
between 10 to 15 days, depending on each child’s
medical recovery.
THERAPEUTIC OUTPATIENT CARE:
“HOME TREATMENT”
PHASE TWO
Children who suffer from severe acute malnutrition
but who are otherwise clinically stable—i.e.,
present no major medical complications, exhibit
fewer than three cases of edema pitting, and who
still possess an appetite—are admitted directly
into Phase Two and treated in community-based
outpatient programs. These children receive medical
supervision during weekly visits to therapeutic
stabilization centers where medical staff evaluate
their progress and provide them with the weekly
supply of therapeutic RUFs needed to continue their
home treatment—along with doses of antibiotics,
vitamin A, anti-parasite and anti-malaria medicines,
and measles vaccinations. The average treatment
period lasts about a month and a half but depends
on each child’s progress.

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER
Action Against Hunger firmly believes it’s possible to
put an end to acute malnutrition. Acute malnutrition
in children under five years of age increases their
risk of death, inhibits their physiological and
mental development, has life-long implications for
their health, and greatly limits the opportunities
available to future generations. Children with acute
malnutrition today are the poor of tomorrow.
In 2000, 189 countries ratified the United Nations’
eight Millennium Development Goals. Eight years
later, global hunger, acute malnutrition, and
child mortality rates remain as some of the more
urgent challenges confronting the international
community.
The Millennium Development Goals of reducing
global hunger by half and childhood mortality by
two thirds cannot be realized without prioritizing
acute malnutrition.
No country can afford to squander their most
precious of resources—their human capital.
Nutritional improvements reinforce a population’s
productive capabilities, with direct implications for
the process of development and poverty rates.

Community-based nutrition education.

How can we expect to build for the future if
millions of people around the world begin life
without hope or the possibility of prospering?

ACF’S POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
• Treatment strategies for acute malnutrition
must receive priority within public policy,
facilitating systematic treatment and access
to RUFs.
• Prevention and risk-reduction programs
must be integrated into treatment programs,
guaranteeing that underlying causes are
addressed.
• Retool the international humanitarian system to
prioritize acute malnutrition: Food aid pipeline
strategies, the UN’s nutritional support, national
nutrition protocols, must all emphasize putting
an end to acute malnutrition.

Treatment of severe acute malnutrition.

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER’S EFFORTS IN THE
FIGHT TO END ACUTE MALNUTRITION
Each day, hundreds of professionals around the
world work to reduce the number of children who
die from acute malnutrition, addressing this issue
from a number of vantage points:
Identification and Diagnosis
• Analyzing the nutritional context, the causes
and risk factors behind malnutrition.
Treatment and Nutritional Care
• Through home treatment, community
mobilization, and supplemental nutrition
programs for vulnerable groups, such as
populations burdened with HIV/AIDS or
Tuberculosis.

local organizations and building alliances for
the long term.
Research and Innovation
• Continually striving to improve the quality and
impact of our work.
Political Empowerment
• Communicating through outreach campaigns and
coordinated activities that acute malnutrition—
the greatest cause of infant mortality—is fully
preventable.
• Promoting access to treatment through strategies
of community-based nutrition programs.
• Pushing for innovation through the research and
development of therapeutic and non-therapeutic
RUFs.

Prevention and Risk Reduction
• In every axis of intervention: in food security,
in productive entrepreneurship, public health
and access to water, hygiene, and sanitation.
Strengthening Capacity and Sustainability
• Integrating the fight against malnutrition into
Ministry of Health programs and public health
structures so they are sustainable over time;
• Transferring our know-how and expertise to

The Action Against Hunger
International Network has
launched the Campaign to End
Malnutrition, a public outreach
effort to ensure that the fight
against hunger becomes the
world’s first priority.